A Grave ERROR
by SaintHeartwing
Summary: Hope Williams, Soul of Patience, had NO idea what to expect when she awoke again in a bed of golden flowers. But finding a world fresh from a Genocide run wasn't one of them. And she certainly didn't expect to find this twisted, erroneous version of Sans there, wanting her dead. Now she and Flowey must escape from Error Sans...through an empty Underground, devoid of all...
1. Chapter 1

Hope Williams, age 10, remembered the moment she died very...VERY vividly.

The first time she'd died, she had died inside, when her birth mother stopped moving in the car they'd been forced to camp out in since they had no home, her chest no longer rising and falling as Hope and screamed and screamed until her throat was hoarse, and she finally realized she HAD to leave and HAD to find somewhere to sleep. She had slept that night under a tree in the forest, sobbing near uncontrollably, wishing, just hoping and PRAYING for something to go right. The wind had stung at her in her scraggly, faded brown shirt and pants, her skin exposed in patches of the ripped-open attire as she sniffled and whimpered. She had taken to taking off pieces of her clothing at one point and tried to cook and eat THAT, but it'd tasted so horrible she couldn't try that again. It was almost impressive that one who wasn't even old enough to be in middle school already knew how to cook for herself. But it wasn't going to save her now.

But then had come a moment of hope. A moment of salvation. For she'd smelled the faint whiff of pie tantalizing her and she followed it into that cave, going further and further into Mount Ebott before falling down, down towards a surprised, faintly goat-like woman with a long, regal purple robe that had a strange white crest on the front, and soft eyes. She had dropped the pie she'd been carrying to catch the child, the flower she'd been trying to offer the pie to staring up in surprise as the little black girl landed in the big white angel's arms.

An angel. Toriel had looked like an angel to Hope Williams, and she had been so certain she was dead, and was going to be carried off to Heaven to join her mamma.

But it didn't work out that way. Instead, the child had found herself feeling warm and safe. She was very sickly from weeks of not eating anything, but bit by bit Toriel was nursing her slowly back to health. Things such as malnourishment were not easily healed with a wave of a hand and a balm of green healing magic, oh no. This required...patience.

And Hope was patient, if nothing else. She had always waited patiently for Toriel to return with a book to read at her bedside, or a pie for Hope to try and enjoy. Hope had waited calmly for Toriel, hearing her faintly musical, tender voice drifting through the air, letting her rub over her messy black hair, loving deep blue eyes gazing into deep brown.

"Why don't you wear that ribbon?" She'd asked one day, pointing at the ribbon Hope had wrapped around her arm, Hope cringing.

"I...it'd look better in someone else's hair. Someone with...like, big beautiful yellow locks." Hope had murmured. "I kinda wish I had big, beautiful yellow hair that looks like the sun. It always seemed people thought that was pretty back home."

"You don't need to look like someone else to be pretty." Toriel had offered.

"Aw, but you got really nice hair, it's all white and soft and...and mine's scratchy and people keep trying to touch it. I feel like a dog being pet." Hope muttered in shame as she hung her head, lying in the pink comforter-covered bed. But then she'd felt her cheeks be lifted up as Toriel's kindly face gazed back.

"You are BEAUTIFUL, Hope. You just need to give yourself time to believe that. Here." Toriel had said, gently unwraveling the ribbon and tying it into Hope's hair, into a little bow as she began to brush the hair with a comb. Then, at last, she held up a small mirror from a nearby dresser drawer, giving it to Hope as the little girl looked herself over. "Do you like it?"

"...I think I do."

"Give it time. I think you'll like it even more." Toriel offered, gently embracing her as Hope had returned the hug. That night, she'd slept in Toriel's bed like she did so many other times, just nuzzled up against her soft fur, quietly listening to Goat Mom's faint, almost musical breathing as it lulled her into slumber.

She felt safe.

Safe and happy.

...

...

...

...and so, Hope had stayed with Toriel for weeks on end, slowly getting better and getting to know the nice old lady who worried to much, becoming less and less frail as the days went on, actually getting some real muscle mass and fat back onto her skinny, near-helpless frame before, after several months, Hope finally asked Toriel if there was a way out of the Ruins. As much as she loved being with her, Hope wanted to see what lay beyond. Just a little peek. For while Hope was patient, she was also slightly curious.

So Toriel had agreed to let her go out of the Ruins if she promised to come back within an hour. It would be a fateful...horrible decision. For that day, Hope had run into Sans the Skeleton. Hope breathed in the icy air of "Snowdin", gazing around at the deep, long, tall, dead trees lining a long stone pathway through a snowy woods. She passed by an immense stone, a blanket wrapped around her as she hummed a bit, continuing down the path as the wind blew a bit harshly around her. Seeing a wooden bridge up ahead, Hope moved over it, noticing a lamp nearby, combined with what appeared to be a small little wooden outpost that had snow lining its roof. But before she could move forward past the outpost, a voice rang out, deep, faintly echoing, colder than even the snow lining the path around her.

 **"...you a human?"**

"...hello?" Hope called out, glancing about, looking for the sound of the voice.

 **"...so you ARE human. well. guess that makes this easy."**

And just like that, Hope gasped, seeing something rushing towards her. A bluish-white beam of light that erupted out from behind the outpost. She dove away, the ribbon flying off of her, wafting back into the ruins. She clung tightly to the blanket, trying to make for the woods, only to be reamed over by several more harsh, horrific beams of pulsating light that served to blast her off her feet. The little African American child let out a pained gasp, flopping around on the ground, cringing as she rose back up to her feet. She panted and heaved, feeling as though her skin was on fire, the voice rising up through the woods again, seeming to come from everywhere as it softly clucked its tongue.

 **"my my. surviving a direct hit from my blasters? not once, but five times? wow. you are GOOD, kid. real good. somethin' special. I almost not wanna do this. but you're a human, so it's kinda hard for me to feel sorry for you."**

Suddenly cold bony bars surrounded her, boxing her in, and a singular blue eye was faintly visible in shadow in the woods, getting closer...closer. A glaring, harsh blue pupil that had no kindness to it, the bones getting closer still, Hope trying to push them away, trying to break out, suddenly noticing that something was hanging right above her, mouth open wide. A horrific-looking, almost demonic, skeletal skull with energy coalescing around its maw, even more horrific skulls popping up around her as the being with the harsh blue eye spoke again.

 **"i really wish I could feel sorry for you. i wish I didn't have to do this. but try to understand, kid. you finally appearing after all these years? well..."**

It's grin was the work of demons, and Hope quietly whimpered as its words echoed through the forest, the beams from the skeletal THINGS around her wiping out everything in her world.

 **"you're giving us all hope."**

Agony. Pure, white-hot agony. On its own, the attack was a harsh, hateful, burning punch to the gut. But hitting AGAIN and AGAIN...she screamed and wailed and sobbed, the monster she'd come to know as Sans staring for a long, long time as the Gaster Blasters finally finished. Soon she was barely standing up straight, her clothes ripped and tattered, sobbing incoherently in a fetal position as he shook his head.

 **"looks like it won't kill you so quick. you've not got any LOVE. No EXP."**

He sighed, holding his hand up in the air as it faintly glowed blue. **"i'll just break your neck and..."** Then he'd stared, puzzled, as if something was wrong. Her SOUL, the emblem of a heart was floating in front of him, light blue and normal but, why...

 **"...guess I can't do it. sorry then, kid. i wanted it to be quick."**

The Gaster Blasters lit up again...and Hope remembered all turning black.

Unbeknownst to Sans, another version of himself was putting the finishing touches on his own prey. The kid in front of him had tossed the knife away and was sobbing into his hands and Sans grinned, holding out his arms.

"C'mere, pal." He said with a smile, Frisk walking forward, having tossed Chara's influence off him.

But then bones jutted through him with a horrific THLA-THLURK and he gasped in agony, Sans chuckling. "Geeeeeeet dunked on!" He proclaimed...seconds before he himself was impaled by a series of vines, Flowey's scream echoing through the air being the last thing he'd ever, EVER hear.

"CHARA!" Flowey screeched out, shooting through the dust and racing to "Chara's" side as a red soul began to shudder, and Frisk motioned him to come closer as best he could, lying in a pool of his own blood, coughing and spluttering uselessly. The little brown-haired child groaned in agony before Flowey leaned in, and then...Frisk gently rested a hand on Flowey's head.

"I...forgive...you..." He whispered out.

And with that, Flowey found himself shuddering in agony of his own as the warm hand slowly grew cold, and the Soul vanished. With a scream of denial, fury and rage, Flowey raced away, howling and wailing...unaware he was watched by a pair of pitiless eyes that had no soul of their own.

Within a week, Flowey was all alone in the recesses of Waterfall, having run away as far as he could, unable to deal with the grief. He laid in front of a single horned statue with an umbrella over it, quivering and crying, wishing he couldn't feel these phantom pains. He covered his face with his petals, lost in grief and the faint music that echoed from the statue, playing on repeat again and again. Soft, tinkling notes echoing through the air like rain gently falling on his head.

But then a soulless, hateful laugh echoed through the air. A voice that sounded familiar, yet corrupt and distorted, and Flowey turned, eyes wide as a pitiless smirk stuck out in the dark beyond his reach.

"Hello, ASRIEL."

"...h-how do you know...?" Flowey whispered, eyes wide as the being stepped into the dim natural light by the statue and his eyes went wide with sheer terror. "What ARE you?!"

"I am become Death. Destroyer of Worlds."

"St-stay away from me! D-Don't hurt me!"

"Oh, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to HELP you, Asriel. I'm going to take away all your problems. Just relax..."

"STAY BACK! ST-STAY BACK!" Flowey screeched, vanishing into the ground, the imposter's pitiless laughter ringing in his ears.

...

...

...

... _Hope wasn't sure what was going on at first, but then she saw it playing out before her eyes. The possibilities of a hundred different timelines, everyone in the Underground's hopes and dreams were all playing out around her. She could see, she could SEE what had been, what was, what would be, in every possible way. This…foul, twisted, cracked being had destroyed everything. All of time and space was compressed into this one moment and she was watching death being played out over and over again to keep her in line. To keep her a slave._

 _She was watching…her own death. Sans's Gaster Blasters burning into her body as she pitifully whimpered, eyes pleading for Mercy that would never come. Or horribly speared through the chest by the Royal Guards as she tried in vain to run. Starving to death in Snowdin, collapsing in a heap, calling uselessly for help, burning alive in Hotland, screams echoing through the dark recesses as a foolish monster tried in vain to "heal" her with more Lava…_

 _But no, no the worst was Asgore's. She kept seeing that most of all. And the saddest thing was, she wasn't being killed by him. She was just dying right in front of him. Over and over she saw it, struggling to get through the barrier, hands uselessly whacking against it before sliding down, sobbing and crying, her little body giving out as he gently picked her up, looking down at her near-skeletal form. Without food, almost without clothes, nothing but a frail husk that had fought off hunger for one reason and one reason alone: the faint hope of seeing the sun again. Only to be told by the mournful king that you needed a human AND monster soul._

 _To come so far and fail at the very end, when she'd been so close…that was the cruelest cut of all. But...  
_  
 _But then it had happened. Frisk had shown up. He had saved them all. He had crossed through the barrier and would soon reset, and make all right, and Hope closed her eyes, sighing as her spirit began to pass on, waiting for the end to come-_

Instead, she found herself falling. Down, down into a familiar patch of flowers and hitting them with a THWOMP as she groaned, rubbing her head before getting up as best she could, turning...

And before her, standing in front of a terrified, shaking Flowey was a figure that looked like Sans, and yet...so clearly wasn't. This tubby skeleton's body looked utterly black. His eye sockets were crimson foul and unnatural, his form almost minimalist in design. It was as if he'd been boiled down to his most basic state, there was no detail on his body. No creases in the dark jacket he wore, no indentation of where the finger bones met, his smile and fingers an ugly, disgusting shade of yellow that made Frisk think of rotting teeth, with a red shirt to match the pitiless sockets that gazed at him. Within those blood red sockets on the right side was a single white pinpoint pupil, within the other a dark blue pupil with a foul, unnatural yellow iris, another little black pinpoint blazing forth from within. He seemed to be eternally crying, blue streaks running down his cheeks from his eye sockets, his smile the grin of something twisted and sick that had died under a rock yet somehow crawled back out.

"S-Sans?" Hope found herself asked softly. Despite the fact he had murdered her many times in possible timelines, she had forgiven him. It had been hard...but she'd forgiven him. Seeing him like this was...disturbing. "Sans, what's wrong?" She asked.

The being that looked like Sans looked her over, frowning. "You can't be here. You're...you're the Soul of Patience. You oughta be gone or in a capsule. No, no. Can't have this." He sighed, shaking his head.

"It-it's not him!" Flowey yelled out in terror. "He wants to murder me! PLEASE, you have to help!"

"I AM helping." Sans chuckled. "Come to ol' Error Sans. C'mere, pal." Error Chuckled, holding out his hands...

Patience grabbed hold of a chunk of dirt beneath the flowers and tossed it into Error Sans's face. He clawed at it, howling as she raced at Flowey, snatching him up and barreling through the hallway, panting and heaving. "We've gotta get to Toriel or Asgore or the REAL Sans!" She insisted, glancing about, a shudder running through her, a cold wind blowing through her very soul as she realized how empty the purple halls of the ruins were...

And the dust that lined the floors. Dust of dead monsters. There was a disgusting, rank, rancid smell, the smell of a musty basement that had not been cleaned in years filling the air, and a chill stabbed it's claws deep into Hope as she quivered in raw fear, hiding behind a stony pillar, trying not to scream at the many, MANY piles of dust lining all around her.

"Ch-Chara had their fun and...everyone is gone." Flowey murmured. "Error Sans finished off what Chara couldn't. We're..."

He hung his head, his voice barely a whisper.

 _"We're the only things left alive in the Underground."_


	2. Chapter 2

The ruins were biting cold, a harsh wind digging its claws into us as the human and the flower laid hidden in the ancient cityscape. Were it possible for anything to properly grow down here besides leaves on that singular tree, tumbleweed would surely be rolling by. The place echoed their every little movement as they laid down inside of an old, long-since abandoned store, Hope Williams curling her arms around her legs as she sunk her head deep into them, sighing sadly. Flowey the Flower sat in an old bucket filled up with dirt nearby, the only flowerpot-esque thing that wasn't cracked and broken around the cityscape. It wasn't wise to go to Toriel's house, at least not yet. That'd be the first place that...

That that _THING_ would go to.

Old Town's once beautiful paint jobs had long-since faded, what had been dazzling reds and purples and blues had turned into ugly and faded shades of grey. The roads were also an ugly color to boot, where once had been golden paint that made the streets shine as if the travelers were on the road to Oz, now there was nothing but grey. The roof the cave above seemed grey. The buildings were grey. The road was grey. Everything about the place...

Was grey. Grey and dismal and sad. The entire Ruins truly was empty, hollow and morose and depressing, and Hope was struggling not to give into absolute despair as she tried to strike up a conversation with Flowey, who sulked in the corner, her deep brown eyes looking sympathetically at him. "How'd it happen?" She wanted to know.

Flowey's voice was quiet, almost eerily like his TRUE voice, the voice he'd had as little Asriel, and yet...not.

"Chara had been having her fun all through the Underground. She understood that in this world, it was "Kill or be killed". She was on her way to the Judgment Hall, where that smiley trashbag was, not too far from my Father's throne room. I'd been worried at first. I thought maybe..." Flowey slightly trailed off before shaking his head back and forth, turning around to properly face the little black girl as she stared expectantly back at him. "I'd been worried she might hurt ME in the end, might...be a bit mad cuz I didn't go through with our plan from before. The plan back when Chara poisoned themselves and I brought their body out of the barrier, our souls combined as one. But...then when she was fighting Sans, I saw her stop. She didn't kill him. I knew **then** that..." Flowey shook his head. "She'd just been playing. It was just one of her twisted little jokes she liked to do. Chara LOVED dark humor."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, like..." Flowey smiled a bit, chuckling. "Like...what's the difference between a car and a pile of dead babies? I don't have a car in my garage!" Flowey sniggered as Hope blinked a bit, but she could see that Flowey's near-devastated, almost catatonic with horror and grief face had slowly but surely begun to pick up the more he talked, and she wanted to keep him talking. It made what was going on around her seem normal. It made her feel NORMAL. Less afraid. More sure of herself.

"That's pretty good. Or maybe "How many babies does it take to paint a wall? Depends on how hard you throw them"?" Hope asked, Flowey sniggering as he covered his little mouth with his petals.

"Yeah! Or-or did you hear about the cannibal who _passed his brother in the woods?!_ " He began to guffaw, his body shaking with laughter as Hope laughed.

"What are three things a black guy can't get? A black eye, a fat lip and a job!" She chuckled, Flowey blinking a bit at this, looking at her in surprise.

"You don't... **mind** jokes like that?" He asked her. "Cuz, well...Chara said jokes like THAT were...racist?" He remarked quietly, the former Prince of Monsters looking confused.

"Jokes like that can be, yes. Black kids like me tell each other jokes like that because it lessens the sting when people who aren't black tell it. Sometimes they don't know better, other times they do but don't care. But we tell them anyway cuz it makes it easier for us to brace for it." Hope remarked softly. "It's the same reason we call each other names that old slave masters used to call us. It takes away the power of the word. At least, a little bit. It's not much, but in a lotta ways it's kinda all we got. When you don't have much, you have to make do."

"I can get that." Flowey mumbled as they sat in the near-empty room, Hope leaning against the old mattress and sighing.

"So is your...well...is your father gone?" She asked. "We can't stay in the Ruins forever, we need to get the Souls."

"What makes you think they're not already taken?" Flowey quietly asked as Hope rubbed her chin.

"Well...think about it. If Error Sans HAD the Souls and had become a God, wouldn't he have already found us? Or wiped you and I out when I first showed up?" She reasoned. "I'm guessing he doesn't know what normal Sans wouldn't, and normal Sans wasn't told where the Souls would be kept. He saw where I was and a few others, I remember THAT from my time in the jar, but then he broke down when Gaster was gone, and never went back to the lab, and Asgore would have moved the souls out."

"That's right, Error Sans said you're the Soul of Patience." Flowey remembered aloud. "I knew something about you was familiar." He reasoned, tilting his head a bit. "How'd you GET here?"

"All I remembered was this bright light, really...and then I was here. Pretty much, that's it." Hope said with a shrug. "I don't know why I'm here, but if you're all that's left then...I have to at least try to help you. Even after all you did." She reasoned, scratching at her black hair as Flowey bit his little lip, his flowery head hanging slightly before he sighed.

"Fine. _Whatever_." He grumbled. "...I guess we'd better find our way out of the ruins. But that means we have to go to Toriel's house, and Error Sans is probably there, just waiting for us to show up."

Hope nodded. "He's a patient guy, I'm sure. Same as Sans. But I spent years in that canister, watching Sans, hearing him talk, seeing him expose his own soul." Hope murmured, her eyes turning into burning brown pools of cold-hearted calculation. "And I...ain't...stupid." She grumbled. "I know a lotta people expect me to be, but I'm poor, not STUPID. And I'm not letting some creepy bag of bones keep me down here. I don't care what it takes. I can figure it out. I'm not just patient."

She tapped the side of her head and gave Flowey a little smirk.

"I'm WISE too."

...

...

...

...Toriel's home was a cozy little purple-brick place, the walls inside a soft yellow color, with flowers in pots all over. A collection of books was in a bookshelf across from a stairway leading down to the exit of the ruins, all the floors quite well-kept and clean, the house cozy and warm with a homely-little living room and a table set for three. A plushy brown chair with a yellow blanket slung over it sat by a fireplace that no longer had a fire coursing through it, but it DID have an unintended occupant sitting inside said chair as he nonchalantly munched on a Butterscotch-Cinnamon pie. She sure as heck wasn't gonna be-

Something hit the side of the house and Error Sans blinked a bit, standing up as he levitated the pie plate in his lap onto the table, calmly making for the front door and opening it up.

Sure enough, a rock had struck the side of the house and it rolled past his slippered feet. His red eyes narrowed intensely as he gazed about, chuckling slightly.

"Oh, c'mon now. You seriously, actually think you can hide from me?" He inquired. "I mean...really? I've done this so many times. Nobody ever gets away from me in the end." He announced loudly, stepping down the front steps of the home as he placed his hands in his pockets and began to hum the infamous funeral march music. **_"Bum-bum-ba-dum, bum-ba-dum-dum-dum-da-duuuum!"_**

Another shot sailed through the air. It hit the side of the house and Error Sans glanced around, frowning. The rock rolled across the lawn as he looked about, eyes peering, but not seeing either Flowey nor Hope. He began to hum more loudly, his eyes slightly narrowed as he frowned a bit...

THA-THUNK. Yet ANOTHER rock hit the house and he whirled about, seeing where it had come from, eyes widening.

Somebody had set up a surprisingly elaborate slingshot system using old tools and little string, every single tug letting loose the "catapault" to hurl a rock at the house, every single one of the slingshots hidden and now only SLIGHTLY visible...

Having been put in piles of dust. Error Sans chuckled darkly as he began to laugh and laugh and laugh, Flowey shuddering as Hope got to work on opening up the doorway, Flowey's petals clutching the strings tightly as he hid behind a pillar some distance away.

"Not bad, kiddos. Not bad at all. Hiding your little toys in the remains of my fellow monsters so I wouldn't immediately notice it? Now THAT is ballsy. I'll give you that. Fiendishly clever. But unfortunately for you, I don't feel like toying around with you anymore."

He clenched his bony hand into a fist, laughing psychotically, his echoing, mocking laughter ringing through the air as his Gaster Blasters manifested, the enormous, faintly draconic skulls hovering in midair before obliterating the traps as Flowey let go of the strings and bolted as fast as he could, Error Sans firing at him over and over again as he desperately tried to dodge, trying to make his way to the abandoned cityscape again. But after days of running ragged away from Sans, he couldn't really move too fast, let alone duck into the earth and hide, and Error KNEW it. His grin was the work of demons as he calmly whistled, his Gaster Blasters barreling hot, monstrous energy squarely at Flowey, trying to obliterate him as he kept on firing and firing.

"You can't keep dodging forever." Error Sans said with a little smirk. "WOW is that ironic comin' from yours truly." He told Flowey...

Before a rock bopped him on the head and he frowned, turning around, rubbing his skull. "...hey. I might be more powerful than normal, but that still hurts." He told Hope, Flowey gaping in surprise.

"What're you doing?! You shoulda took off for Snowdin!"

"I'm not just going to **leave** you." Hope insisted as Error grinned and held up one hand, his Gaster Blasters turning on her as she dove away, then tossed another rock at him, Error Sans stepping to the side to dodge as well. Hope held up a small bag she'd filled up with kitchen knives, tossing them at Error Sans again and again, diving and swerving and twisting her body to avoid the searing, baleful strike of his Gaster Blasters as Error Sans continued dodging himself.

"Oh, c'mon, kid. You think you're really gonna hit me?" He asked, noticing she was inching closer and closer. "Trying for another spray of dirt in my eyes."

"No, I figured you'd catch on to that tack." She said. "Or rather...KETCHUP!" She proclaimed, whipping out a bottle of ketchup, tossing it at his face.

The pun caught him off guard, Error Sans staring in surprise, a brief chuckle rising up involuntarily from his gut before the bottle slammed into him, knocking him back as he flailed about. The Gaster Blasters vanished in midair as Flowey raced to Hope's side, Hope lifting him up and tucking him into a new flower pot as she barreled into Toriel's house. Error Sans's furious roar filled the air as he tried to get the ketchup out of his eye sockets, Hope and Flowey surging down the stairs and towards the purple doorway at the far end of the basement hall...

Bursting out into the cold of Snowdin. Now...to follow the river to Hotland, and from there, to the King's Castle. To the souls.

To their only hope.


	3. Chapter 3

The rolling white fields of Snowdin were covered in ice and snow and frost as Hope struggled to keep moving, and to make her way towards the boat that was off in the distance on the long, winding river of the Underground. Flowey rapped the boat on the head, giving it a frown as its cat-like front turned to look at him and its new passenger, the biting wind of Snowdin digging its claws into the two.

"Hey. Hotland, on the double." He demanded, the boat sighing and moving down the river, flowing smoothly and fluidly as Hope curled up on the back end, Flowey sighing as he sat down as best he could in the flowerpot Hope had given him. "Thanks again for the pot." He remarked.

Hope was quiet for a few moments. Then, at last, she nodded. "It wasn't a big deal." She mumbled. "I...I took it from Toriel's room." The little girl hung her head, covering it with her hands. "...and I could smell her all over again." She whispered out. "It was warm and soft and safe. It was as if I was right up to her chest and tucked under the covers with her again."

Hope began to shake and shudder, taking in deep, pained breaths before she finally wiped snot on her arm and coughed a little. "I...I grabbed a flowerpot inside and left. It had a little heart on it."

Flowey blinked, looking down. Sure enough, there was a distinct red heart that had been painted onto it, and he stared as his mouth slightly gaped open. "This was Chara's." He realized. "We made a bunch of pottery for Mother and Father's Day presents. I made one for Dad, he made one for Mom." He mumbled. "We were really proud of it, cuz we'd never made them before. Mr. Grillby helped show us how to form it, I remember Chara was really scared to be so close to him."

He shook his head back and forth, chuckling a bit. "A man on fire. Who wouldn't be scared? I was scared the first time I saw him."

"I think you DO feel something." Hope quietly intoned as Flowey glanced up, squarely looking into her eyes, black into deep brown. "What you got in you is like...like an echo flower. It's repeating back old memories and feelings you had. It's just an echo, a ripple, an aftereffect, but it's JUST barely enough that you kinda feel something. At least, you feel it when it comes to things like Chara. Because Chara was very, very special to you. Did you...LIKE her?" She asked. "Like, did you like-like her?"

Flowey blinked in surprise, trying to think back. "Was I in love?" He wondered aloud. "...maybe. My first real crush. She was my sister, my best friend, the first real pal I ever had. Maybe I did." He mumbled. "I guess I'll never know now." He added with a wry laugh as Hope sighed and stretched out on the boat. "Going to get some sleep?"

"I'm gonna try, yeah." She mumbled out. "Just a little nappy." She moaned, turning on her side slightly and yawning. "Just...just a little..."

And sure enough, sleep crept into her as she dozed off, the boat continuing down the long river.

...

...

...

..."I know you're not there."

Hope sat in Goat-Mom's lap, head bowed as Toriel stroked over her hair, smiling warmly down at her, Hope's eyes closed.

"I KNOW you're not there. I've been dead before, I'm more aware than ever of what's real and what's not. You're not there." She mumbled. "...this is just a dream. I kept hoping I would see you again, I waited and waited for things to change. I was patient when I was stuck in that jar, just a trapped soul. A butterfly in a jar and...then it happened. I got freed. And I COULD see you. Even if only...for a _little_ while..."

Hope Williams hung her head, shaking it back and forth. "I'm probably NOT supposed to be here. But I just can't...I can't leave Flowey here. He's the only one left. The only one I know at ALL. Everyone else is _gone_ , so what else am I gonna do?"

"What do you **think** you should do?" Toriel asked softly as Hope bit her lip.

"I just wish I could do what others could. RESET. Go back to the beginning. I woulda spent my whole life with you. Hardly anyone was as nice as you were...hardly anyone but my own mom cared as much as you did." The little girl murmured. "But I can't do that. All I can do is be patient and wait and hope that maybe I'll figure out what to do. All I can do is hope the other Souls are there and that MAYBE, somehow, we can get out and leave that...that THING behind us."

Toriel's arms embraced her as Hope wiped her eyes. "It isn't fair. I deserved better than this."

"I know, baby. I know."

 _"I didn't deserve to DIE!"_ Hope yelled, Toriel gently resting her head on her own as Hope covered her face. "It's so unfair! I didn't deserve to have Sans murder me! I deserved to live my life and-and go to SCHOOL and find a real job and a family and-and ORANGE JUICE. I DEFINITELY deserved orange juice. I loved orange juice."

"I know. I know."

"And now I get a second chance and...and it's already looking like I'm gonna lose it. Just cuz a bony bully thinks everything should be HIS way." Hope sniffled, turning around and embracing the dream Toriel deeply. "Time got stolen from me. It's not fair."

"I wish I could do more for you." Dream Toriel said softly. "Perhaps some cookies?"

"I don't think even THAT'S gonna help."

"They're still warm."

"...no wonder you're a mom." Hope said with a smile, Toriel giving her a chocolate chip cookie as she munched away, Goat-Mom smiling tenderly.

"Cookies and counseling are our specialty." She crooned, the dream slowly fading away, Hope finding herself, at long last, in the humid depths of Hotland. Flowey looked her over as she rose up, glancing around the deep red rocky terrain that had been carefully flattened out to provide someplace for people to stand on...high over a deep magma core. Indeed, the magma far below was what the CORE, the place that powered the Underground's electrical system, drew out and converted into energy.

Hope walked off the boat, seeing the elevator to the CORE not too far off, picking up Flowey as she approached it, pressing the open button.

The electricity was still working. She sighed in relief, walking inside it as the elevator began to go up...

Then she heard the laugh and stiffened.

"I KNEW you'd come here eventually. Time for a little fun."

"Oh CRAP!" Flowey yelled out. "That demonic smiley trashbag got here already?!"

Hope instinctively ducked, a blue string shooting through the elevator, going through the wall, missing where her neck would be. Laughter rang through the air as she dove to the side, another string barely missing her. She panted and heaved, diving and ducking around, gasping in fear as Flowey shrieked in terror, Error Sans's laughter long, cold and cruel.

Then she felt it. A THA-THUMP as something landed on top and knocked on the roof of the elevator. "Little pig, little pig, let me in!"

"Flowey, you got Friendliness Pellets, right?" Hope whispered as she put Flowey down on the floor and looked up at the wheel above her, which opened up a hatch on top of the elevator, useful for those that wanted to escape. She panted slightly, sweat dribbling down her brow, hearing Error Sans's haunting voice.

Realizing what she was implying, Flowey nodded, focusing as little white bullets popped up around him and Hope leapt up.

"Not by the hairs on my chinny-chin-chin!"

Her hands clasped around the wheel...

"Then I'll huff and I'll puff and-"

She YANKED, hard, twisting it open and flopping down, Flowey shooting Friendliness Pellets at the surprised Error Sans, who barely teleported away in time as the elevator came to its proper floor, Hope grabbing Flowey in his pot and racing for the inside of the CORE, to the next elevator. Error Sans growled darkly, holding out shooting blue strings at her to try and envelop her, but she dove into the elevator just in time and slammed the button for the top floor...for the King's floor. The door closed on the strings, cutting them off JUST before they touched her, and the elevator whizzed up, Error Sans frowning a bit before shrugging.

"Then I guess I know exactly where to meet you." He remarked, teleporting with a POOF as Hope wiped her brow free of sweat, turning to Flowey.

"...he's gonna be in the judgment hall." Flowey murmured as she nodded quietly. "...you think you're gonna get past? Maybe if we check in Asgore's home..."

"We can try and look, but he'll be expecting that kind of thing." Hope admitted. "Plus, we had surprise on our side before. Now we **don't**." She mumbled. "Now we BOTH know where the other is."

Silence reigned over them for what seemed to be a long time as she exited that elevator, heading into another one, beginning the trek towards the judgment hall as Flowey stared into her solemn face. "Aren't you scared of dying?"

"I'm gonna stall him, Flowey. As best I can. I want you to try and find the Souls."

"But I don't know EXACTLY where they are." Flowey grumbled.

"I'll give you time to look. Having an IDEA of where they are is better than having nothing." She reasoned. "At least you got something to go on. If Error had any clue..." Hope cringed as the door opened, and she made her way down the long, grey hallway, finally stopping in front of the dark doorway that led to the judgment hall. The last place before the King's Throne Room, his little garden, and then...the Barrier Room itself.

She put Flowey down on the floor, giving him a quiet nod. "Go." Hope said softly. "Look. I can wait. I can hold out. I'm patient." She added with a little Mona Lisa smile before entering the room, and looking around. The judgment hall was beautiful, long hallway with rising ivory pillars, the Delta Rune flanking stained glass windows on all sides as bells faintly rang through the air across the golden hall. Taking in a deep breath, head held high, Hope Williams made her way through it towards the doorway at the end before suddenly there, in the middle, stood Error Sans, hands in his dark pockets as his red eyes looked her over.

" You've arrived."He said, speaking in a faintly mocking tone "And the end of your journey is at hand."

"Stop using his words." Hope insisted. "Sans is a LOT of things but he's not half the...the BULLY you are." She muttered, Error Sans closing his eyes and shrugging a bit as he chuckled.

"Guess you might be right. I AM kinda an asshole." He confessed. "But I need to be for the work I do. It's hard, havin' to kill off your friends. But somebody's gotta do it. Especially in a genocide run. Can't leave loose ends."

"People aren't LOOSE ENDS. You're viewing them the same way Chara did, as just...things in your way!" Hope yelled back, Error Sans looking briefly furious, a look of pure rage briefly flashing on his skeletal face before he sneered.

"Well...well...well. The Soul of Patience sure can cut right into a guy. You gain WISDOM, child. But that won't be enough to save you. I'm kinda done playing games." He said, snapping his fingers.

Hope barely jumped away in time as bones shot up from the ground, racing towards her as she panted and heaved, then rolled away again as Error Sans began to nonchalantly hum a little tune. He swept his arms about, bones shooting through the air at Hope as she dove away or rolled to safety, panting and heaving and ducking around to avoid his awful onslaught.

But then one bone managed to catch her on the side of her arm and she howled in agony, gripping her arm as Error Sans smirked pitilessly, firing another at her. She flopped onto her side, barely avoiding it as she rubbed over her torn-at arm, blood dribbling through her hands as Error smirked. "You know, for such supposedly strong people, your bodies break so easily." He remarked. "Guess it really does go back to LOVE. See, you never gained LOVE...but you gained **love**. Not that the second will do you much good."

"It's better than ending up alone like YOU!" She gasped out through her tears as she rose up on shaky feet, pulling out one of the kitchen knives she'd kept from Toriel's home and holding it up in front of her. Error Sans frowned, firing a bone straight at her as she shot forward and SLASHED, deflecting the bone as it sailed through the air and into a nearby pillar with a KRUCHA-KRAK. He chuckled, snapping his fingers as a horrific, black-boned Gaster Blaster manifested above him and he pointed it squarely at her.

"You think I'm gonna just let you hit me? Nah." He smirked, firing it at her as she grit her teeth...and plowed through the beam towards him, ignoring the agonizing way it seared into her, gritting her teeth. It felt like being hit by burning waves of the sun...but she didn't care. She had to keep buying time. Error Sans frowned, firing again...but she kept moving towards him. "...hmmmm." He growled as it kept slamming into her. "It's not KILLING you?! Why no-ohhh. Of course. Low LV." He remarked before he leapt back, avoiding a swipe of her knife as he shook his head. "You have to be much higher for it to really hurt. Well...luckily..."

He spread his arms wide, and she saw the blue strings manifesting, snaking towards her as she held her knife up, slicing and slashing at them as he chuckled. "You can't dodge forever. WOW that's ironic!" He laughed. "ME! Telling someone ELSE they can't dodge forever!"

"You really are a coward!" Hope yelled out. "What would Paps say if he could see you now?!"

Error Sans stiffened. The blue strings all began to bunch together into one, big, lance-shaped spear as he held a single hand up, and began to slowly clench it into a fist, his face the epitome of pure rage and hatred and bile. "Don't...you...bring...up...PAPYRUS!" He snarled.

He thrust his fist forward, the blue strings all shooting forth at once, intending to impale right through her, to life her up the way his normal blue magic would have done once upon a time. He was gonna slam her around the room until she was nothing but a bloody mess of hamburger meat. He was gonna...

Watch...the strings... _pass harmlessly through her_.

And the two gaped, looking down as the strings slid through her without actually TOUCHING her, as if they weren't even there. Hope waved a hand in front of the strings, passing it through them as she stared in surprise before slowly realizing something. All those years ago, SANS had tried to use his blue magic on her...and what had he said?

 ** _"i really wish I could feel sorry for you. i wish I didn't have to do this. but try to understand, kid. you finally appearing after all these years? well..."_**

 _It's grin was the work of demons, and Hope quietly whimpered as its words echoed through the forest, the beams from the skeletal THINGS around her wiping out everything in her world._

 _ **"you're giving us all hope."**_

 _Agony. Pure, white-hot agony. On its own, the attack was a harsh, hateful, burning punch to the gut. But hitting AGAIN and AGAIN...she screamed and wailed and sobbed, the monster she'd come to know as Sans staring for a long, long time as the Gaster Blasters finally finished. Soon she was barely standing up straight, her clothes ripped and tattered, sobbing incoherently in a fetal position as he shook his head._

 _ **"looks like it won't kill you so quick. you've not got any LOVE. No EXP."**_

 _He sighed, holding his hand up in the air as it faintly glowed blue._

 _ **"i'll just break your neck and..."**_ _Then he'd stared, puzzled, as if something was wrong. Her SOUL, the emblem of a heart was floating in front of him, light blue and normal but, why..._

 _ **"...guess I can't do it. sorry then, kid. i wanted it to be quick."**_

 _The Gaster Blasters lit up again...and Hope remembered all turning black..._

"I'm... **immune to status effects**." She realized. "...I can't be HELD. I can't be paralyzed or...or POISONED or...I'm immune to forced ailments! And your blue magic doesn't affect me!" Hope realized, her chest swelling with pride as Error Sans now felt something else dig into him as she shot forward, knife held up.

Fear.

And it wasn't JUST fear that dug into him. She SLASHED across his chest, sending him reeling back, launching into a pillar with a mighty SHUKKA-KOOOM as Hope raced at him, lifting him up and stabbing him in the gut again and again. "THAT'S for trying to kill me all those years ago!" She yelled angrily. "THAT'S for ignoring my crying for so long! THAT'S for trying to kill me and Flowey now! THAT'S for murdering so many other people you GOD!"

STAB.

"DAMN!"

STAB.

 ** _"COWAAAAAARD!"_**

And with THAT, she stabbed him one last time, eyes glaring balefully at him before she wrenched the knife out, a voice calling from the room behind. "Hope! I found the Souls, I'm-OH. WOW."

Asriel was in a less monstrous form than when he'd faced Frisk so long ago, now only having five souls with him. He had taken a faint fascimile of his childlike self, but with distinctly larger horns and a little black robe, and now he stared in shock at what he beheld, the five souls wrapped around his neck in a necklace of sorts as he stared in amazement. "Oh...wowwwww..." Error Sans was panting and heaving, looking up in raw terror as she tossed the knife away and stepped back, wiping her brow.

"I'm...DONE...with you." She muttered, walking to Asriel as he took her hand, Error Sans cringing, trying to get back up, summoning a bone...

Asriel flicked out a hand, a shockwave blasting him back as he and Hope made their way to the Barrier Room, hands clasped tightly as the shimmering white gleam of the Barrier lingered before them.

"It's like that time all over again. Only this time the hand I'm holding is...warm." Asriel murmured as they closed their eyes, passing through the sheen as Hope took in a deep breath. "What do you think is waiting out there?" He asked. "I feel...different than normal. Not like before, but...not quite full either. I don't think I've got enough back."

"I don't know what happens next." Hope said. "We'll just have to wait and see." She insisted as the warm rays of the sun began to bathe over them, and a smile began to spread over her face.

So nice. So...warm.

...she...she could smell flowers. Was it...Buttercups?

...

...

...

...Error Sans banged on the Barrier. He pounded and howled, eyes burning furiously. His screams and wails of furious denial echoed through an Empty Underground, with nobody to hear him and freedom so close, and yet so far. He was not hurt enough to die, and thus exit to another dimension. But he didn't have the strength to leave this one, for he hadn't claimed any humans the way he had in so many other times. He NEEDED to use human souls as a waypoint. Needed to kill a Frisk. Needed to kill ALL the monsters and claim the Six Souls. He needed to make things right. This was wrong! This was all wrong!

"You're in for a bad time!" He roared angrily. "I SWEAR, when I get out of here! I'll! **I'LL!** " He howled, his fists futilely bashing against the barrier. "I'm gonna! G-Gonna!"

But it was pointless. He wasn't going to leave. Too weak to die. Too weak to escape. Too weak to do anything but rage against the dying of the light, trapped in the Underground, it's sole inhabitant among the whispers and the dark.

Years from now, people would continue to tell stories of the screaming and wailing coming from Mount Ebott. Of the cries of denial and rage that would echo long into the night from that hateful mound of dirt.

Hope Williams would just shrug and smile as she waved goodbye to her friends at the library, her shift over as she made her way home, wondering where Asriel was now. He had said he'd write to her. She hoped it was soon.

Still, she didn't mind waiting. She'd waited years for freedom. She could wait a few more months for a letter from Vermont. Lovely state, really. Nice landscapes, fresh air. Good place to hide away and enjoy New England weather. Big, tall mountains to hike and ski around...

And no faint screaming echoing from the hills.

She lived close by, of course. Keeping an eye out for anybody else to make sure they didn't fall in either. It helped that the local town had finally put up signs and a fence, but still, she hung around, just in case.

Because she knew Error Sans was, in his own way, also patient. He could wait for another poor soul to fall in.

He was patient.

...but so was she. And she would wait as long as it took for him to give up. After all, he might have been patient, but he was also a lazy coward.

And that...that gave her a little hope.


End file.
